I've run into a few issues. If your Windows IT dept. has Remote Desktop, VPN or Active Directory set up where you need to send CTL, ALT, DEL to login there seems to be a problem with Apple keyboards. According to the Apple documentation you are supposed to be able send the required commands, but I was never able to get it to work.

EDIT: Upon reading the actual letter, it's just Sales and Marketing that are losing Macs and iPads. Not Development or Testing. Move along, nothing to see here.

I was thinking that this was the case. Wow. Sucks to be in marketing at Microsoft and being forced off of the Mac platform. They will probably loose at lot of any remaining creative talent they still have.

I'm not sure why they were funding them anyway. I highly doubt Apple funds the purchase of Dells or Toshibas or Android or Windows Phones for their employees (not that their employees would choose to purchase those products, but still).

Why wouldn't their employees choose to buy Android or Windows Phone? Steve Wozniak sure did and he CO-FOUNDED the damn company lol.

I've run into a few issues. If your Windows IT dept. has Remote Desktop, VPN or Active Directory set up where you need to send CTL, ALT, DEL to login there seems to be a problem with Apple keyboards. According to the Apple documentation you are supposed to be able send the required commands, but I was never able to get it to work.

I'm just telling you what he told me when showing off his new Apple laptop. He said "best windows computer you can get." Of course, he didn't have to buy Windows.

This speaks volumes to how crappy Windows 7 is and how much better OSX is. Microsoft's own employees would rather use Macs than crap Windows cloner machines. I think it would be better for Microsoft to focus on improving their OS so their employees do not want to buy Macs.

I swear some of you guys crack me up. The reason MS is doing this is because they'll be coming out with Win8 tablets and they don't want employees supporting the competition. Do you honestly thing there are folks using Office in Cupertino? I'll give ya a hint. There aren't.

maybe he had just signed a new Volume OEM agreement with Dell or some large Client X and this was part of their terms.

Jobs stated years ago that Apple doesnt compete with MS, he realised it. MS havent copped onto that yet, they still see Apple as the enemy, and should be looking at Google etc instead.

Apple is a huge market for MS products if they went back to their roots. MS started as a software company writing apps for Apple. Office on IOS would be HUGE revenue and stem the tide against Googe Apps and similar OpenSource alternatives

I swear some of you guys crack me up. The reason MS is doing this is because they'll be coming out with Win8 tablets and they don't want employees supporting the competition. Do you honestly thing there are folks using Office in Cupertino? I'll give ya a hint. There aren't.

Want to bet?

I would be willing to bet that a lot of Apple employees use Office. In fact, I've received .docx files from some of them, so it's more than likely.

"I'm way over my head when it comes to technical issues like this"Gatorguy 5/31/13

. . .
If somebody at Apple wishes to use something else, then that is not understandable, and the employee should be required to undergo a psychological evaluation and possible drug treatment to cure them of their illness.

Too funny. Scared the bejesus out of my dog.

When I find time to rewrite the laws of Physics, there'll Finally be some changes made round here!

I am not crazy! Three out of five court appointed psychiatrists said so.

I swear some of you guys crack me up. The reason MS is doing this is because they'll be coming out with Win8 tablets and they don't want employees supporting the competition. Do you honestly thing there are folks using Office in Cupertino? I'll give ya a hint. There aren't.

This reminds me of when Motorola IT decided to stop buying Apple computers in the late 90's, in effect supporting their competition.

I think MS is doing a smart thing, you want your company to buy your own products, not those of your competitors.

Interesting tact. As a company, would it not be better to look at employee purchase patterns as an oppertunity for some free market research, and innovate until the tides turn.

Oh wait, what am I saying . . .

Hi, I hope this doesn't piss you off, not trying to be a know-it-all, but the word you want there is either "tack" (from the sailing term for changing direction) or "tactic" (as in strategy). "Tact" just means a sense of decorum.

Again, feel free to ignore, just a friendly note.

They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.

Not sure why they would single out the Apple products. On some level, everyone is a competitor to Microsoft. Ten years ago, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs buried the hatchet between them, but neither men work at their respective companies now. Is this Ballmer's way of unburying the hatchet?

But seriously, people. It's their sales & marketing division. I love my Mac, but I think it's legitimate for MS to say that it looks bad if their own marketing people are using Macs.

Microsoft's promise to continue MS Office for Mac saved Apple back in the late 90's when Jobs returned, so why would Apple be so against MS Office? It's not like there's an alternative to MS Office on Macs.

I'm not sure why they were funding them anyway. I highly doubt Apple funds the purchase of Dells or Toshibas or Android or Windows Phones for their employees (not that their employees would choose to purchase those products, but still).

Apple needs to offer an "Employee Discount" to Microsoft employees that matches what an Apple employee gets... then in a year from now announce how overwhelmingly Microsoft employees buy Macs and iPads compared to Windows8 crapola.

There's nothing like driving your competitor's management a little crazy in the head.

"That (the) world is moving so quickly that iOS is already amongst the older mobile operating systems in active development today." — The Verge

Microsoft's promise to continue MS Office for Mac saved Apple back in the late 90's when Jobs returned, so why would Apple be so against MS Office? It's not like there's an alternative to MS Office on Macs.

That's not true. There are quite a few alternatives to MS Office for Macs. None of them are 100% transparent drop-in replacements, but there are plenty of alternatives. Start with OpenOffice and iWork, for example.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton

Not sure why they would single out the Apple products. On some level, everyone is a competitor to Microsoft. Ten years ago, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs buried the hatchet between them, but neither men work at their respective companies now. Is this Ballmer's way of unburying the hatchet?

Actually, since Microsoft makes more money on Macs than on PCs, they shouldn't be all that worried about Macs. They should really be going after Google. Block Google IP addresses at their firewalls, for example.

"I'm way over my head when it comes to technical issues like this"Gatorguy 5/31/13

Not sure why they would single out the Apple products. On some level, everyone is a competitor to Microsoft. Ten years ago, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs buried the hatchet between them, but neither men work at their respective companies now. Is this Ballmer's way of unburying the hatchet?

I doubt any hatchets are being unburyed... Ballmer wants Microsoft employees to use WIN8 products and by stopping the purchases of Apple iPads now, his employees will be ready to jump on the WIN8 tablets when they become available 7 to 12 months from now. It is also possible that MS employees will get a free tablet from the company when they are available, similar to what MS did when the WinMo7 phones were available. It just makes good sense.

I'm not sure why the Macs are being blocked since MS makes products for Macs and will need to test them at some point. Also the SDK for iOS devices runs on Macs and if MS is going to make MS Office for the iOS devices they will needs Macs again there too.

"That (the) world is moving so quickly that iOS is already amongst the older mobile operating systems in active development today." — The Verge

I wonder how many of those employees will just accept the company subsidy for the purchase of a Windows computer and then put Linux on them. There are enough office solutions on that platform to replace Windows 7.

My Windows OS has frozen more times than my Linux OS on the same computer. It was my total frustration and extreme anger at Windows that got me to switch to Linux. I now like Linux so much that I will immediately put it on my next laptop computer. Eventually I'll have iOS and Linux only. I won't need a Mac in a year or two because iOS is evolving very quickly into a very productivity oriented OS.

That's not true. There are quite a few alternatives to MS Office for Macs. None of them are 100% transparent drop-in replacements, but there are plenty of alternatives. Start with OpenOffice and iWork, for example.

I own a small business, so there's no big IT issue involved, however if I create a document here, I need to know my customers (whatever kind of computer they use) will be able to open my documents and they will look EXACTLY like I created them... So I use Macs running MS Office, and using the MS font sets and everything is fine and dandy.

While using MS Office I can also be confident anyone I bring into my organization is highly likely to be able to use our pre-made templates and operate their own laptop programs without me teaching them word processing and spreadsheet programs.

Finally, I'm very prone to not use any program that cannot run on both Macs and Windows computers. Translation programs are not reliable and it takes extra time and fussing around to have to go through that. MS Word and Excel are two programs I would buy when they come available on the iPad. If they don't, I'd still buy only an iPad, but the lack of those programs would be felt by me, and may stop some companies from buying an Apple iPad instead of a WIN8 tablet.

"That (the) world is moving so quickly that iOS is already amongst the older mobile operating systems in active development today." — The Verge

I wonder how many of those employees will just accept the company subsidy for the purchase of a Windows computer and then put Linux on them. There are enough office solutions on that platform to replace Windows 7.

My Windows OS has frozen more times than my Linux OS on the same computer. It was my total frustration and extreme anger at Windows that got me to switch to Linux. I now like Linux so much that I will immediately put it on my next laptop computer. Eventually I'll have iOS and Linux only. I won't need a Mac in a year or two because iOS is evolving very quickly into a very productivity oriented OS.

By late summer Mountain Lion will be more like iOS then it is now, so you may think in terms of the UI and how similar Apple computers and Apple devices feel to the user.

"That (the) world is moving so quickly that iOS is already amongst the older mobile operating systems in active development today." — The Verge

I would be willing to bet that a lot of Apple employees use Office. In fact, I've received .docx files from some of them, so it's more than likely.

Maybe, but I doubt that Apple would want their employees using MS products when they have their own in-house software available (Pages, Numbers, etc.). I know you can save files as a Word doc in Pages, though I'm not sure if it can specifically do .docx though.

Not sure why they would single out the Apple products. On some level, everyone is a competitor to Microsoft. Ten years ago, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs buried the hatchet between them, but neither men work at their respective companies now. Is this Ballmer's way of unburying the hatchet?

I'd say they have Quebec Canadian syndrome where you can use any language on your store sign except English. Others are not a threat, where apple is. . It probably does not reflect well on them if their sales force visits clients holding iPads and iPhones. It's obvious they are threatened by apples products especially when they are competing in the same market

I own a small business, so there's no big IT issue involved, however if I create a document here, I need to know my customers (whatever kind of computer they use) will be able to open my documents and they will look EXACTLY like I created them... So I use Macs running MS Office, and using the MS font sets and everything is fine and dandy.

While using MS Office I can also be confident anyone I bring into my organization is highly likely to be able to use our pre-made templates and operate their own laptop programs without me teaching them word processing and spreadsheet programs.

Finally, I'm very prone to not use any program that cannot run on both Macs and Windows computers. Translation programs are not reliable and it takes extra time and fussing around to have to go through that. MS Word and Excel are two programs I would buy when they come available on the iPad. If they don't, I'd still buy only an iPad, but the lack of those programs would be felt by me, and may stop some companies from buying an Apple iPad instead of a WIN8 tablet.

There's some truth to all of that. But the original statement was that there was no alternative to MS Office for the Mac. That's a false statement - there are alternatives, even if they have weaknesses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freshmaker

Maybe, but I doubt that Apple would want their employees using MS products when they have their own in-house software available (Pages, Numbers, etc.). I know you can save files as a Word doc in Pages, though I'm not sure if it can specifically do .docx though.

I know for a fact that Apple employees use Office. OTOH, you have a blind bias and some fantastic belief that they don't - with no evidence at all.

Who to believe?

"I'm way over my head when it comes to technical issues like this"Gatorguy 5/31/13

I doubt any hatchets are being unburyed... Ballmer wants Microsoft employees to use WIN8 products and by stopping the purchases of Apple iPads now, his employees will be ready to jump on the WIN8 tablets when they become available 7 to 12 months from now. It is also possible that MS employees will get a free tablet from the company when they are available, similar to what MS did when the WinMo7 phones were available. It just makes good sense.

I'm not sure why the Macs are being blocked since MS makes products for Macs and will need to test them at some point. Also the SDK for iOS devices runs on Macs and if MS is going to make MS Office for the iOS devices they will needs Macs again there too.

Once upon a time, Microsoft actually provided specially configured PowerMac G5's to early Xbox 360 developers to test their games, like early builds of Halo 2, because the Xbox used a version of the PowerPC CPUs. Those were the days when Microsoft wasn't desperate to keep its market share from slipping further.

Microsoft really needs to give it's workers huge discounts on that gorgeous top-end Nokia - you know the one that's shaped like an iPod Nano. And Nokia should come up with a tablet that's Newton sized or bigger.

Have their employees use them every day, so they can make them better and more focused than Android. \

This morning after reading this story I sold my 138 shares of MS. If MS thinks this is how they are going to beat Apple then I dont want any part of it. I always told my employees that they should use whatever they wanted to beat the competition, just beat them. This just goes to show how bad the management at MS is.

Agreed. You can't pretend the competition doesn't exist and live in a bubble. If your employees are using a competitor's product that should provide motivation to improve your own product.

Microsoft really needs to give it's workers huge discounts on that gorgeous top-end Nokia - you know the one that's shaped like an iPod Nano. And Nokia should come up with a tablet that's Newton sized or bigger.

Have their employees use them every day, so they can make them better and more focused than Android. \

Bill and Melinda Gates have a no-Apple products allowed in the house policy. I am not kidding. They won't let their kids use iPods, for example; other MP3 players, sure, but not iPods. Tell me that has anything to do with making Microsoft products better, rather than petty jealousy over Apple's success.